AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Let us in, and we’ll tell you,” Sierra retorted.
With one last assessing glance at Cody, Jack stepped to the side. Waved them in.
Cody swept his gaze around the apartment, looking for problems. The living area had some nice furniture and a huge television hanging on the wall. The room across from it was supposed to be a dining room, but was now filled with a huge curved desk. Three computer monitors stood in a row, and three laptops sat beneath them. In front of the desk was a bookcase stuffed with books and magazines.
Nothing unusual, if you were a grad student with rich parents.
The click of the door closing drew Cody’s attention back to Sierra and her brother. Jack was staring down at her. “What’s going on, See?”
She nodded toward the living area. “Let’s sit down.”
Jack grabbed her arm, and Cody’s training kicked in. His instincts told him to leap at Jack. Free Sierra.
He managed to stop himself. Forced his fists to loosen.
“Is it Mom and Dad?” Jack said, sliding his hand down to hers. “Did something happen?” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Jack jerked his head toward Cody. Horror filled his eyes. “I mean… is something going on with your parents?”
“They’re fine, as far as I know. It has nothing to do with them.” Sierra grabbed Jack’s hand and dragged him to the couch. Yanked him down beside her, then nodded at Cody to join them.
Cody sat at a careful distance from Sierra. Casual touching was out. And if he was too close, he might touch her without thinking.
Sierra reached out and took Jack’s hand. “First of all, Cody knows you’re my brother. He knows… a lot more about me than anyone but you, Mom and Dad. And no, we’re not dating. He’s my… my…” She licked her lips and avoided looking at Cody. “He’s my bodyguard.”
“What the hell?” Jack swiveled to stare at Cody, who stared right back, keeping his expression neutral. Returning his gaze to Sierra, he said, “Why do you need a bodyguard? What’s going on?”
“It has nothing to do with Mom and Dad or our… situation. It’s about Alex, actually.” She took a deep breath and explained to her brother what had happened. How she’d been stopped by a guy who looked like an Evanston cop, and how he’d insisted she get out of the car. How Alex had told her the Bratva might be targeting her. Her stay at the farm in Wisconsin with Cody.
“We came back to Evanston because of the guy who tried to get into your apartment,” she said. “I was terrified. I don’t think it’s related to Alex’s mess with the Bratva, because she doesn’t know you’re my brother. But I was afraid it had something to do with Mom and Dad. Cody tried to have his company send a bodyguard for you, but all their operatives are on jobs right now. So Cody’s going to guard both of us.”
“I don’t need a bodyguard, See,” Jack said, running his hand through his hair. It reminded Cody of Sierra, and how she combed her fingers through her hair when she was unsettled. Or frustrated.
“Do you know who that guy was?” she asked. “The one who tried to break in?”
“How would I know that?” Jack scowled at her. “What part of ‘he was wearing a ski mask’ don’t you understand?”
“Did he say anything?” Sierra asked. “Talk to you at all?”
“Not a word,” Jack replied.
Cody leaned toward Jack. Held his gaze. “The woman who owns the company I work for is searching the CCTV feed from Evanston, looking for footage of your intruder. Once she captures an image of him without his mask, she’ll run it through facial recognition software. When we get his name, we’ll be able to figure out why he was after you.”
“It was probably a joke,” Jack said, but Cody saw through the kid’s bravado to the fear beneath the surface.
“Maybe. Maybe not,” Cody said. “But your sister was concerned about you. I didn’t want to bring her back to Evanston, considering this is where that guy tried to get her out of her car. And the fact that we were followed when we drove away the next morning. But she was… persuasive, so I agreed.”
Jack studied him for a long moment, and Cody wanted to squirm. He was more than a bodyguard to Sierra, and he was afraid her brother would realize that. But Cody held the young man’s gaze and kept his expression neutral. Business-like.
“Do you have any enemies, Jack?” he finally asked. “Someone who has a beef with you? Anyone you’ve had a fight with?”
Jack shrugged. “I work in a lab with a bunch of other people. We’re all grad students, and we compete for the best research projects. The best post-graduation jobs. There’re always squabbles. ‘You got the project I wanted’. ‘Your research is going better than mine’.” He snorted out a pained laugh. “Stuff as juvenile as ‘You’re using my favorite workbench’. But nothing that would make someone pull on a mask and come after me.”
“You sure about that?”
Jack tilted his head to study Cody, and suddenly he looked exactly like skeptical Sierra.
“I mostly stay in my apartment, working on my thesis project. I go to the lab and meet with my advisor once or twice a week. Sometimes more than that. I’m focused on my research and don’t pay attention to the petty fights of the other grad students. I’m hoping to have my research finished this semester and spend the summer and next semester writing my thesis.”
“So no idea who it might have been?”
